Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,764 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.27.

Danaher Stock Down 0.4 %

Danaher stock traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $235.51. The stock had a trading volume of 2,336,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,723,040. The company has a market cap of $174.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $249.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $229.90. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.87 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.